Game Changer ♠ Remus Lupin

Six: Treacherous Expectations

Our train ride passed in a rather awkward atmosphere. We both kept our noses buried in our books the entire time and didn't say anything to each other. Remus accidentally brushed my leg with his shoe once, for which he instantly apologised and quickly changed his position.

On the ferry, things started to get weird. Remus was behaving strangely, to say the least.

"You want to jump or what?" I asked, maybe a bit too accusingly, as I approached him.

He was leaning against the railings with his entire body, not just his hands. One stronger wave and he could've gone overboard.

"I'm not much of a swimmer," he said, as if that would calm me down.

When I bent over to look at him, I noticed that he had his eyes closed and his mouth open, inhaling deeply. Cruel, chilly wind was tossing his half-long hair in all directions, which covered his face every so often.

Not that I still knew him as well as before, but this didn't seem normal to me. "Are you okay?"

His right hand slipped away from the metal bar to rub his forehead before gripping his floating strands of hair. He still hadn't opened his eyes when he said, "It's just a headache."

Half an hour later, his lie was exposed when he walked away from the railing and tumbled to the floor.

"I'm okay," he mumbled, holding up his hand to stop me, but seeing as I ignored both his statement and gesture, he just dropped his head. People around stared at us, whispering to one another. "I just need a minute."

I grasped his shoulders and helped him to his feet. His legs swayed, like if he didn't have any strength in them. "A headache, huh?"

I led him over to the bench where I had been sitting and he immediately leaned against the cold wall behind. Remus was pale and his skin was probably shimmering from sweat rather than the sea breeze.

After retrieving a bottle of water from my bag, I handed it to him and when he lifted his head to drink half of it all at once, I put my palm on his forehead, which was scorching hot in comparison to the weather and conditions we were in.

"You got seasick?" I asked a rhetorical question, a bit irritated. "Haven't even considered mentioning it?"

"It's the first time I'm on the water," he said weakly, giving back the bottle, but I urged him to keep it. He grimaced, possibly thinking I was angry with him or that he was troubling me. "Sorry."

"No need to apologise," I reassured him, trying to calm myself down inside. Actually, I was mad with him, but for hanging on the ledge instead of simply telling me so that I could do something earlier. "We still have two more hours to go, you know that, right?"

He gave a faint smile, "I'm going to need more then deep breathing to get through this," and then took another sip of water.

I dug through my bag once more and took out a tiny burlap pouch for him. Instead of checking what was inside, he was looking at me expectantly, so I untied the string and gave him three small leaves. "It's mint. Just take it and suck on it."

He obediently put them in his mouth and closed his eyes, resting his head on the wall, expecting to find some peace. "I almost forgot you have a thing for greenery."

Remus was one of the first to leave the deck. As soon as we landed, he got up and was going to grab both our trunks but luckily, I was quicker and snatched them from under his nose.

"You're barely walking," I reminded him. "Leave it to me."

"It doesn't speak well of me-" he tried to argue, but I cut him off.